Inspired by...spring lovelies {Spring is in the Air}

It's Thursday and that means there is a brand new Inspired by Challenge! I took last week off, so it feels good to be back today sharing some fun spring cards! I decided to make 2 since it is just as easy to make multiples as it is to make just 1. My stash can definitely use it! If you're interested in playing along this week, and I hope you do, you can check it out HERE! Also, I am sharing a fun birthday card for SugarPea Designs today in the post below this one if you are interested!

Isn't this week's inspiration photo breathtaking? I love it so much! I love the different textiles in the photo as well as the Grape Hyacinths bursting out of the jar! 

 I decided to pull out Tulip Time for my spring flowers and paired it with the Coverplate Basket Die for a true spring feeling! 

 I chose to use two of the included sentiments in the Tulip Time stamp set and stamped them in black. The pattern paper is from the Green Parakeet Bitty Big Pattern Paper and is cut to 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches. I layered everything onto a top folding A2 card base.

I added some Nuvo drops here and there to mimic the look of dew drops or rain on the tulips and leaves. I just love how it looks! I also added some sparkling clear sequins on each of the cards for some sparkle and shine! I hope to see your card in the gallery this week! Thanks for fluttering by!

Happy Birthday!

 Hello friends! I'm over on the SugarPea Designs Blog today sharing this bright and colorful birthday design! I know I've been lamenting quite a bit lately about the fact that I don't have very many cards on hand, which is rare for me! I'm literally making them as fast as they are flying out the door! This one, however, doesn't need to go anywhere anytime soon, so I am excited to add it to the stash! 

 I can't seem to stop using the Elephant Parade stamp set, because I love it so much! It is so fun to use the cute little images to create all kinds of scenes! I had purchased the CarnivalScape SugarCut a little bit before the new sets were released in hopes that I would use it during the release, but I never got around to it!  I decided to pull it out to set the stage for today's card!

 I die cut it out of white cardstock,  as well as a panel using the Card Front Element Builder to create the rolling hill. I did some ink blending using Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide ink. I layered them using foam squares to give a lot of dimension. With a card like this, dimension is key, and helps to give the card the perspective element that helps it look more realistic.  I stamped the "Happy Birthday" sentiment in black for a bold look. Once that was all done, I was ready to get to work on the cute little critters.

 Since I've used this set so much, I felt like I kept using these cute bunnies in the same way, so I decided to give them a little spring in their step and get them moving! LOL! I stamped them in black and then die cut them using the coordinating Elephant Parade SugarCuts.

I used even more foam squares to pop these elements even more to give them the look I was hoping for! I layered the white panel onto a piece of red cardstock that had also been die cut using the Card Front Element Builder. The blue striped piece is from the Spots and Stripes Brights Patterned Paper pad and is also die cut using the Card Front Element Builder. 

The images are all colored using Copic markers. I also added some Wink of Stella to the ball, the Ringmaster's platform, and the bunnies shirts. Of course I couldn't resist adding a layer of Crystal Glaze over the top of the ball for a more realistic look. In fact, the ball ended up being my favorite part of the entire design. A few sparkling clear sequins finish off this festive design! Thanks for fluttering by!

Taylored Expressions NEW Designer Dangles!!

 Welcome friends, old and new! I am beyond thrilled to be here today sharing some fun and exciting projects! I had the AMAZING opportunity to meet THE Taylor VanBruggen from Taylored Expressions at Stamping Away last September! Not only did we get to meet, but we were seated across from each other so the talking and laughing was incessant and we bonded pretty quickly! She is absolutely amazing and I am so happy to know her! We have "known" each other for about 100 years back in the Splitcoast days, but to actually meet her was so fabulous! I bought a bunch of her fabulous products, including the Designer Dangles Kit after I got home! I had so much fun making a ton of earrings, so when she asked if I'd like to help launch her new set of earring dies, I didn't hesitate and said YES!!!! A million times, YES!!! I have 10 pair of earrings to share with you today, using a mix of all of the fabulous new dies, which you can see HERE! There are 3 new sets of dies, in addition to the ones that have been previously released! I had a ball creating all of these earrings that I am sharing today! These dies are called "Mixed Media" dies and are stronger than other types of dies that are most commonly purchased, which makes them perfect to cut through all of the different types of Craft Leather.

To begin, ALL of these earrings work up SO QUICKLY!!! You all know how much I love to papercraft, but these earrings are super addictive and you will make 100 pair before you know it! LOL! In addition to the new dies, there are new leathers to choose from as well!  I used the Craft Leather-Burnished for these earrings, in addition to the previously released Craft Leather Metallic Basics. They all mix and match so well!

This particular pair was created using the new Designer Dangles-Shape Shifter. This set includes quite a few shapes for ENDLESS possibilities. I am showing a very basic, but fun way to use them. The jump rings and Earring Wire are all available as well so that you can create every look that I am sharing today! 

This next pair is also from the Shape Shifter collection and used two of the different shapes that are included in the set. To create the folded piece, I simply ran it through my machine twice, once in once direction and then switched the ends and ran it through again so that I could get a hole on each end to create the loop!

I love how nicely these two leathers look together; you could dress these up or down, depending on your needs!

This next pair is an evolution of the previous pair! Let me tell you , your mind will start wanting to experiment with all the pieces. The top two pieces are pretty much the earring from the photo above, with the addition of the blue piece which if from the new  Designer Dangles-The Bigger the Better set die cut from the new Craft Leather-Colorful.

I just love the pop of color mixed with the two different metallics! As I was choosing different combinations of the Craft Leather, I tried to keep the scale of texture in check so that I didn't use too many of the same intensity or look.

This pair is also a combination of the Designer Dangles-Shape Shifter and Designer Dangles-The Bigger the Better. I used some of the extra pieces that I had left over from the first pair I shared to give these pink and white earrings a little something unexpected!

The pink is from the new Craft Leather-Colorful, and the white is from the previously released Craft Leather-Black and White. I ended up buying extra of all of these after I made my first run of earrings because they are so much fun and you will definitely want it! I don't know why I didn't think of it, but it has been popular to purchase two sets of the dies so you can make one pair of earrings at the same time rather than running it through your machine twice! Smart idea!

This particular pair used just the Designer Dangles-The Bigger the Better set and is pretty basic, but some of my favorites! These actually headed out the door the other day as they were tucked into a birthday gift for a deserving lady!

 This is a great example of what I meant when I said that you want to keep your textures balanced. This gives you three different scales and intensities to keep the earrings appealing!

I got a little crazy with this next pair and I wanted to experiment actually shifting the shapes, literally! LOL! This pair was created by smooshing and gluing one of the pieces from the Designer Dangles-The Bigger the Better. I simply used Scrappy glue to secure it and used clothespins while it was drying.

I thought hot glue would be the winner, but it didn't end up by holding, so I tried the Scrappy Glue and it worked perfectly! 

This next pair isn't winning any awards for creativity, but for style, I think they get an A plus! My daughter wore them to a function the other night and they looked ADORABLE!! So simple, yet sophisticated. These are created with the Designer Dangles-Shape Shifter set. This is also what the piece looks like that I used in the 2nd and third pair, just looped on those.

This pair is created using the 3rd and final kit being released today; the Designer Dangles-Free Flow! These are pretty straightforward as well and I didn't experiment with these as much as I'd like, but I love how easy they are and how they turned out!

I chose to bring in the bold stripes from the Craft Leather-Black and White mixed with some of the metallic leather. These could be dressed up or down!

These are another one of my favorite pairs. This particular design uses both the new Designer Dangles-The Bigger the Better as well the previously released Designer Dangles kit. The smaller cork piece is die cut using one of the pieces from the older set. It works perfectly to cut out the shape from the larger portion.

This is the final pair that I am sharing today, but I have plans to share a lot of other fun new designs as well. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I made quite a few earrings to give out at Valentine's Day; the entire school staff that works with my kids got a pair! I sent a few for my daughter to give to some of her favorite teachers at High School. I've been gifting them all over the place! 

They are the perfect thing to have on hand to give to family and friends! I'll share how I package them up in a future post if anyone is interested. This pair uses the new Designer Dangles-Free Flow and a mixture of the previously released leather as well as the new Craft Leather-Colorful. I had such a great time creating all of these earrings! Do you like what you have seen today?  Head to Instagram @kellylunceford to win a pair or two (or three) of your own! Thanks for fluttering by!

Saturday Showcase {You make me So Happy} and a WINNER!

Welcome to this week's Papertrey Ink Saturday Showcase where a few of us are sharing some bright and colorful projects using the Make It Market: Color Pop Butterflies Mini Kit! I don't know about you, but after the long winter, I am ready for some bright, fresh colors! The daffodils and tulips are starting to make their first appearance, but won't show their color for a few weeks now. I decided to make some box baskets, which I like to do this time of year, using all of the beautiful butterflies included in the kit. These are always so fun to fill up with little treats or small gifts and give to family and friends! Before I dive into the details of today's project, I'd like to announce the winner of my Giveaway I posted on Thursday! The winner is comment #6- Cindy Otto!!! Congratulations! Send me an email at kellyrory1@msn.com with your address and I'll get that sent out!

I made three of these box baskets; one in Raspberry Fizz, one in Hawaiian Shores and one in Spring Rain. I took my color cues from the printed butterflies that are included in the kit. These were so easy to die cut and then add to the papers that are also included in the kit. As you can see, I also carefully attached one to the handle using Scrappy Glue.

This angle gives you a little bit of a better perspective on how deep/wide they are. These are just simple boxes with a cardstock handle attached using glue dots. As usual, I use my "go-to" box design and just switch up the dimensions. These boxes measure 1 1/2 inches deep and 3 3/4 inches wide. They are about 4 inches tall, but you really can make them as tall as you need for your project. You can get an idea of how I  assemble a box like this in THIS post. Let me know if you need further instructions and I can always help out! I bent the wings slightly before I glued them down to vie them the appearance of being in flight; like they are flying off of the box!

The papers that are included in the kit are all neutral; some are browns and tans, and others are grey and black. I chose to use three of the gray/black tones to really give the butterflies a pop! These papers also work perfectly with the included stencils in the kit, which I didn't use.

 The sentiment is die cut out of black cardstock and is attached to the box using a 2 way glue pen. I tried using Stick It, but ended up getting frustrated because of the delicate nature of this die. The 2 way glue pen is definitely the way to go with this intricate die! The "you make me" portion is stamped onto the cute little banner die that is included in the kit.

I did trim the paper slightly so that it would fit the dimensions of the box and then added the butterflies and flowers here and there so it looked like they are taking off in flight! As I mentioned before, I kept the wings bent slightly to really give it a fun effect. 

I added a few sparkling clear rhinestones here and there for some sparkle and I plan on spritzing them with shimmer spray as well! I hope you've enjoyed today's post and as always, thanks for fluttering by!

Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash {Hello...thinking of you}

I'm so excited about this month's Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash Challenge! Why am I so excited, you ask? Well, let me tell you!! My poor stash needs some serious stocking! 99.9 percent of the cards I have made recently and lots I have made quite a while ago have either been used or are currently at the Simon Says CREATE! event! How many of you are there? I'd love to hear all about it! Needless to say, I am very excited to get some cards back in the stash! How about you? Do you send your cards out regularly?

This month's theme is Easter or Spring and *gasp*, I don't own any  Reverse Confetti Easter sets! I was happy to pull out the Spring Pals stamp set to create a Spring "thinking of you" card! It is very similar to a thank you card I made during the release, but I just can't stop with the polka dots and bunnies!

To begin today's design, I took a 4 by 5 1/4 inch piece of white cardstock and die cut it using the Diagonal Stitches Coverpanel. I took a strip of pink polka dot paper from the new Darling Dots 6 by 6 paper pad and added it to the center of the die cut panel. The blue frame is die cut using the Stitched Note and Frames Confetti cuts and added to the panel using foam squares.

The "hello" is die cut three times out of white paper using the Thanks & Hello Word Duos and glued together using liquid glue. I also attached it to the frame with liquid glue. The "thinking of you" portion of the sentiment is from the Word Up stamp set and is also attached to the frame using a small foam square.

I stamped out all of the images I planned on using in black ink and then colored them with Copic markers. I used the coordinating Spring Pals Confetti Cuts to die cut them all. 

I arranged them all inside the frame using foam squares to set a sweet, spring scene! I added a few sparkling clear rhinestones here and there for some shine! Thanks for fluttering by!

Papertrey Ink Throwback Thursday {Thanks, Coach} and a small giveaway!

Hey friends! It feels like it's been forever since I last checked in! I hope you're all having a fabulous week and enjoying some spring like weather {maybe}. We're having the usual March weather; warm-ish one day and cold the next! LOL! Today I'm sharing the Papertrey Ink Throwback Thursday post, which is always fun! It gives us a chance to breathe some new life into an older set and share some fresh inspiration!

My 7 and 9 year old boys just finished their basketball season, so I always like to put together a thank you gift for their coaches. My 7 year old's coach was Dad and Grandpa; I gave Grandpa a gift and my husband felt left out! LOL! I just thought he wouldn't want all the treats I was giving! I got the big popcorn buckets from Dollar Tree and filled them with microwave popcorn packets and lots of theater sized candy as well as a few codes to RedBox. This card and tag ensemble was made for my 9 year old's coaches {husband and wife} so it worked out perfectly! I started off with the Thanks, Coach stamp set to heat emboss the "we had a ball this season" sentiment in gold onto a strip of black cardstock. I also used the "thanks" sentiment at the top that is also from this set. I love the clean lines and fonts of this set. It's a classic that will always be relevant for making coach themed cards and gifts.

I inadvertently ordered 2 of the Thanks, Coach die and I have one that I would like to give away.  Simply leave a comment at the bottom of this post and I will randomly pick a winner on Saturday! I will throw in some extra goodies as well! For my card, I die cut 3 of them and stacked them together using liquid glue for stability. 

The pennants were my favorite to make! I die cut them using the Pennant Flag Die and cut three for each project; the tag and card. I wanted them to be sturdy. The black portion is only die cut once and added using liquid glue. I used an assortment of Distress Oxide inks to get the blended look. The Utah Jazz was bought by Larry H. Miller from New Orleans clear back in the day, so the colors have always been Mardi Gras colors. They recently added in some new uniforms with these orange/red colors, which are definitely more "Utah" colors! LOL! Since our city teams are the "Jr. Jazz" I decided to give the project a Jazz flair! 

The tag was die cut from black paper using the Folded Pocket Tag Die. The white portion is actually an insert in the pocket with the red box codes written on it.

I die cut the word "coach" and  "allStar" using some basketball textured specialty paper for some added detail. My son said it is football textured paper, but I wasn't in the mood to hear it! LOL! I also die cut the same words out of white to give the shadow effect. I just simply glued them slightly offset from each other to give that extra detail. All of these elements are added onto a white frame that is die cut using the amazing Pierced Feature Frames. I also used the Nesting Basics: Pierced Rectangles die to give the black piece some extra detail as well.

I didn't want to neglect the inside since this set comes with a fabulous sentiment. It can be used on the front or inside; I chose the inside. I used the same inks as I did on the pennants to give it that gradient effect. I heat embossed "coach" using the same gold powder as the front.  I also added some grey ink specks to the front of the tag using my color spritzing tool. A small basketball button bought from the craft store finish off these two designs! Thanks for fluttering by and don't forget to comment for a chance to win!